The News Man

A housewife (the protagonist) notices an older man who somehow manages to appear in the background of every single news broadcast. No matter which news segment she checks, that same man is always there. And the broadcasts always have one thing in common: they are live reports from the scenes of accidents. She tells her husband about this, but he doesn't show much interest. Meanwhile, the housewife becomes completely obsessed with the mystery of "the old man." A few days later, she spots the old man in her neighborhood. It is the scene of a gas explosion accident, where a large number of media outlets have rushed to broadcast live. True to form, the old man is trying his best to get himself captured clearly on the TV screen. At first, the housewife was simply fascinated by the old man, but after a certain realization, she gradually begins to find him eerie: "That old man always appears in news reports. That means wherever that old man goes, an accident is bound to happen." Then one day, the couple goes out for a drive, and to her horror, that very same old man is following right behind them in a car! The housewife desperately begs her husband to drive away and escape from the old man. While trying to flee, as the two of them attempt to cross a suspension bridge in their car, a celebratory paper ball (kusudama) suddenly bursts open, and a parade approaches them from ahead. "You are the 1,000th person to cross this bridge!" they are told, leaving the couple in shock. The scene is broadcast on TV cameras, and while the two of them are overjoyed, the housewife suddenly realizes something terrifying. The old man is not trying to get into the shot of the TV camera at all! He is standing in the exact opposite direction of the camera lens—right behind the cameraman—staring at the two of them in silence. "The old man's goal isn't this kind of news! It must be some other kind of news! If we don't run away quickly, something terrible is going to happen!" she pleads with her husband, but her husband, caught up in the celebratory mood, ignores her, saying, "Who cares about some old man anymore?" At that very moment, the suspension bridge suddenly collapses. As the bridge gives way, the housewife locks eyes with the old man for a split second. As if turning away from the unfolding tragedy, the old man quietly closed his eyes...

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